Tom Cruise and ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ touch down in Cannes

Cannes, May 19 (BUS): Tom Cruise mania touched down on Wednesday in Cannes, as the actor made a brisk appearance at the film festival, walking the red carpet, receiving the surprise Palme d’Or and watching a flock of French fighter jets hover over the European premiere of ‘Top’. Gun: Maverick”.

Cannes did everything it could to celebrate the 59-year-old star, paying tribute to Cruise not only with a rare onstage interview and red-carpet premiere featuring planes flying behind in colorful smoke, but with an unexpected display of an aircraft. The Associated Press reported that the Honorary Palme d’Or.

Festival president Pierre Lisquier announced the award – about 15 honorary palms have already been handed out – on stage just before the show began. Cruz won the first prize at Cannes, while the audience gave a warm welcome to the actor.

The cruise brought great fanfare to the Croisette, as crowds gathered around the Palais des Festivals chanting “Tom!” To try take a look at the 59-year-old star. ‘Big balls of fire’ shot out on the carpet.

Cruz hasn’t attended the festival in three decades. But with so much media turmoil defying the theatrical experience, Cannes and Cruz have been in the mood for longtime friends. “He is committed to cinema,” said Artistic Director Thierry Frémaux. Cruise’s enthusiastic welcome slapped in some aspects of the reception for one of the action’s heroes, here to save the day.

“I make movies for the big screen,” Cruz said to applause in an interview on stage at the Debussy Theater in Cannes.

The European premiere of “Top Gun: Maverick,” directed by Joseph Kosinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, showed what is likely to be among the star-studded red carpets at the Cannes Film Festival, which opened Tuesday and runs through May 28. Attendees included Viola Davis, Dakota Fanning, Omar Sy and Eva Longoria – along with “Top Gun: Maverick” stars Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm and Glenn Powell.

While Cruz arrived by helicopter for the film’s San Diego premiere on an aircraft carrier, he came to the Cannes premiere more traditionally, with the film crew and filmmakers in a parade of cars. The cruise paused for several minutes to sign autographs and take photos with fans queuing across the street from the red carpet.

Prior to this, the festival honored Cruz with a tribute consisting of a video montage that spanned his career, after which Cruz spoke about his dedication to filmmaking in an interview that shied away from any personal questions.

The film “Top Gun: Maverick” stopover in Cannes is part of the film’s world tour ahead of its May 27 release in theaters. It actually made it to CinemaCon in Las Vegas and premiered in San Diego. Paramount Pictures postponed its release by two years during the pandemic, a move that seemed to pay off with glowing commentary and box office predictions that “Top Gun: Maverick” would easily mark Cruise’s biggest weekend ever.

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